Young Gunditjmara woman Jess Chatfield speaks from the heart about her fight to save Framlingham forest and the Hopkins River from a bluestone quarry that is proposed for land nearby.
This 8min work was created by Jess under the guidance of Warrnambool’s best digital storyteller, Colleen Hughson, who is an extraordinary teacher.
This digital storytelling mentorship was funded by the Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas, who generously supported an idea put forward by The Terrier and which has now come to life.
Jess is a natural storyteller and it has been a privilege to be a part of this mentorship and to learn so much from Jess and her family along the way. I am going to miss our Fridays, but this will not be the last you hear from Jess, I just know it.
Election 2020: credit cards, rate rises and c*** acts
Who will run again and who will survive? Council elections will be held in October this year, providing a chance for new faces.
Carol Altmann – The Terrier
Welcome to Terrier 2020!
This is going to be a huge year, not least because council elections will be held in October and we have a chance to clear the decks at the Warrnambool City Council and start afresh.
And, boy, do we need to start afresh, because the great hope of a new, visionary, united and transparent council after the 2016 election has fallen apart.
We were dudded.
All of those promises on glossy election leaflets and what did we get from our elected councillors? We got a big, fat rate rise above the cap.
And this rate rise of 4.5 per cent was not just for one year, but two, making our average rates ($1920) higher than those in suburban Melbourne (eg $1727 in City of Yarra). I would not be surprised if this year’s rate rise is deferred, after all, it is an election year and it will be all spin and good news stories from here.
But this disgraceful management of our city’s finances is the first of at least 20 good reasons why we need to start over in 2020.
Here are another 19:
1. No councillors questioning why the council had 81 corporate credit cards and how these were used.
2. The inappropriate spending on these cards, including the now infamous Cape Schanck event attended by Cr Tony Herbert and Cr David Owen, and the $700 dinner for four people, including Cr Sue Cassidy and City Growth manager Andrew Paton, at the Myrtle Bar & Grill. Unbelievable.
3. Cr Herbert, as Mayor, failing to tell his fellow councillors about the thousands of dollars in inappropriate credit card spending repaid by former council tourism head, David McMahon, and Cr Kylie Gaston describing the entire credit card scandal as a “blip” that would pass.
4. Cr Gaston and Cr Michael Neoh using the council as a springboard for their political ambitions, sending a clear signal that they would rather be in Spring St than Liebig St. Will they run for council yet again? Probably.
5. Councillors denigrating ratepayers, residents and journalists for daring to ask questions and for refusing to sit down and shut up.
6. The ugly, personal power plays of Crs Herbert and Cassidy over who would be mayor, including Cr Herbert dropping the c-bomb. Classy.
7. The astronomical increase in pet registrations, making them the second highest in Australia, and fining hundreds of dog owners in what became a P/R disaster.
8. The cost of parking and parking fines in the CBD which might bolster revenue, but is killing local traders by a thousand cuts.
9. A $3 million blowout on the Liebig St upgrade, and excessive spending on roundabouts, pedestrian crossings and toilet blocks.
10. The first sod of the Reid Oval redevelopment has not been turned, yet small sporting clubs like East Warrnambool Football and Netball Club are already being shafted. This comes on top of clubs paying a 100 per cent increase in WCC sports ground hiring fees. Meanwhile South West Sport, of which Cr Neoh is CEO, pays no rent for a council-owned property at 34 Koroit St and South West Sport will eventually have a brand new office at Reid Oval. Fair?
12. Bending over backwards to accommodate the racing industry and particularly disgraced racehorse trainer Darren Weir by turning our beaches and Albert Park into full-on training facilities.
13. Flagstaff Hill remains a running financial sore, with no clear, public plan for its long-term future.
14. Some council staff living in subsidised, council-owned properties, including one on a verbal agreement only for more than 30 years.
15. The council ignored its survey of 700 people which found most did not want a rate rise. By contrast, an Ipsos survey of 52 people* which declared Warrnambool the most liveable city has become a council mantra.
16. A mural by a convicted paedophile remains covered up at the Lighthouse Theatre, rather than removed, despite the full horror of child sexual abuse in Warrnambool now coming to light.
17. The continuation of the boys’ club mentality within council that allowed bullying to go unchecked, credit cards to be misused and good staff worn down to the point of quitting.
18. A botched attempt to charge local market stallholders $600 a year after complaints from permanent traders yet, this summer, Cr Neoh set up a pop-up restaurant right next to permanent traders.
19. And last but not least, a council that declares itself clean and green, yet still sprays glysophate/Roundup around Lake Pertobe; wants to allow racehorse training where hooded plovers nest; wants to fly across the world to Sweden to talk about hydrogen; and attempted to cut down 115-year-old Moreton Bay figs.
I am sure each of you could add more, but the point is we deserve so much better and we can demand it.
We want community leaders who have the community at heart – not people installed for their own self-interest, or by a particular interest group.
We don’t want more slogans and spin – we want honest answers to our questions and a bold, realistic, sustainable plan for our city.
Above all, we want an end to the waste of ratepayer and taxpayer money.
This is the year we can make a change – we can do it – and campaign 2020 starts now.
[*Ipsos interviewed 9515 people nationally for its survey. Of these, 52 were from south-west Victoria, which was defined as an area east of Colac, up to Casterton and across to the SA border. The majority of these 52 ranked the south-west highly on various liveability measures.]
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Lyndoch: time to speak up, step up, and pull back the power
Carol Altmann – The Terrier
The time has come to use our voices, stand up for Lyndoch and show that Warrnambool will not tolerate bullies, no matter who they are, where they come from, or what they promise.
We can’t turn away and expect the victims of this culture to fix it; they can’t.
Instead we, as a community of terriers, need to get involved, to step up and hold the Lyndoch board to account for what is unfolding on its watch.
We did this with the Warrnambool City Council credit card scandal and we can do it again.
Some of Lyndoch’s most senior and experienced staff are among the 70 to 80 people who have left in the past two years and the resignations just keep coming, yet the board remains silent.
If this was happening in a primary school, or our hospital, or inside TAFE, it would be front page news.
So would some of the decisions around the use of public funds.
Core business: This photo, recently posted on the Lyndoch Facebook page, shows the worn condition of some of the specialised furniture used by residents. (I have pixelated the image for privacy).
As it stands, Lyndoch Living – as a registered charity – has spent more than $100,000 on gambling via sponsoring a steeplechase and hosting a corporate marquee at the May races, and somehow this passes as core business.
We also know that Lyndoch plans to spend millions of dollars to build and run a new medical centre that nobody has asked for, while at the same time it doesn’t have enough experienced nurses to fill shifts, and basic furniture needs replacing.
Enough.
I am unable to look on while personal power trips are pursued at the expense of Lyndoch staff wellbeing and, ultimately, the care of our elderly.
So this is what we can do:
– contact the board: chair Kerry Nelson (knelson@mpower.org.au) or any of the other board members: Andrew Paton, Cr Sue Cassidy, Ron Page, Percy Eccles, Kane Grant, Peter Downs, Suzanne Coulson and Lorraine Mielnik via a letter to Lyndoch Living, 10 Hopkins Rd, Warrnambool.
– ask the board about staff morale, staff resignations and Lyndoch’s core priorities;
– contact our local MP Roma Britnell (roma.britnell@parliament.vic.gov.au) and ask her to investigate, just as her Liberal colleague Cindy McLeish did in response to the troubles at Seymour Health;
– write a letter to the editor of the local newspaper which, unfortunately, no longer does investigative journalism;
– most importantly, become a member of Lyndoch: it’s free to apply, can be done by filling out a simple form, and means you can have a say on where Lyndoch is heading and who is in charge.
At the moment, Lyndoch has very few members, including the nine people on the board, two life members (Ron Patterson, David Atkinson), the CEO Doreen Power, and four senior staff.
It’s a tight little shop.
Core business: Lyndoch company secretary Lyanne Vinecombe, board chair Kerry Nelson, CEO Doreen Power and Director of Nursing Julie Baillie all flew to Sydney to see Ms Power receive an industry award. Image: Lyndoch Living.
Under the new rules of Lyndoch (last year it changed from an association to a company limited by guarantee), these members have significant powers, including standing for the board, voting for the board, and being involved in the AGM.
In fact, unless you are a member, Lyndoch has no obligation to even tell you when the AGM will be held.
But here’s the rub: the board gets to decide who can become a member of Lyndoch, so even if you apply, you may not be accepted.
It’s open to all sorts of manipulation and perhaps explains why the current board is such a curious mix.
There are no GPs on the board. There is no lawyer.
But there is the former CEO of the Warrnambool Racing Club, Mr Downs, who now lives in Melbourne and works for Moonee Valley: if that’s not a massive conflict of interest between the board and Lyndoch’s support for racing, Barry the Bullshite Detector and I will run three times around the racecourse.
(Actually, Barry, we will need to do four laps, because Ms Power and Mr Downs also have shares in a racehorse.)
The Lyndoch company secretary – a former PA to Ms Power – also has no accounting or legal qualifications, despite now monitoring a multi-million-dollar organisation.
From all the evidence, none of these people in charge are asking the hard questions about Lyndoch’s operations, or none are asking them publicly.
Core business: CEO Doreen Power and board member Cr Sue Cassidy enjoying drinks in the Lyndoch corporate tent at the May Races with tourism head, Liz Price. Image: Lyndoch.
Cr Cassidy, for example, has gone from being a power house to a mouse. The bold woman who stood up and exposed the games behind the council mayoral race has nothing to say about Lyndoch. She won’t return my calls.
Chair Kerry Nelson? Not a word.
They are supposed to be our eyes and ears, yet all we have is silence.
To me, the entire Lyndoch board and senior executive are accountable for the distress of every single Lyndoch person who is suffering or has suffered.
So I am going to keep exposing what I know, and I am going to also apply to become a member of Lyndoch, although I doubt I will be accepted, even though my mother was in Lyndoch for 10 years, and my late Dad, as a bricklayer, helped build some of it.
Warrnambool people started Lyndoch, we still own it, and we all have a stake in caring for its residents, its staff and its future.
What started as an important story for me is now a campaign – unashamedly – to restore a bold community voice inside Lyndoch and to stand up for those who need us to be strong.
Original painting, oil on canvas, Graeme Altmann. (Altmann Studios, Highett, Melbourne.)
Carol Altmann – The Terrier
On days like this, we need hope.
On days like today, when we see laws passed that allow even greater damage to our wild coast than what we have already inflicted, it would be so easy to just give up, because the battle is exhausting.
But on days like today, when I need to draw deep on hope, I think of my late uncle Alf Altmann.
In March 1970, almost 50 years ago, Alf attempted to become the first person to row solo across Bass Strait, from Tasmania to Victoria, in a home-built kayak.
He built that kayak piece-by-piece in his garage under his home on Riverview Tce, here in Warrnambool.
To train for this epic journey of more than 200km, he would row out to Deen Maar, (Lady Julia Percy Island) and, once or twice, he carried native saplings in his boat to plant on the barren island.
The saplings never survived. Neither did my uncle. His attempt to cross Bass Strait ended just 1.5 miles from the Victorian coast. So near. So close.
And when I think of his story, I think of an anecdote that stays with me each day as I do my bit to try and turn around decisions that hurt our local environment more than protect it.
“Why do you bother taking those saplings with you?” someone asked Alf. “Nobody will see them out there.”
“I see them,” Alf replied. “I know they are there, and that is all that matters.”
This painting is how my artist brother, Graeme Altmann, often captures the essence of Alf’s journey: a boat, suspended above the turbulent sea, with the proud thylacine pointing toward an unknown future.
We can’t change the mistakes of the past. Alf never came home. The thylacine is gone. But I keep trying to do what I can, whatever I can, to turn other mistakes around.
Because we know. And we see. And that is what matters.
By-election: are we on a road to nowhere?
Comment – Carol Altmann
[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #A02F2F;”] T[/dropcap]ake a moment to watch the 49-second video above.
This footage was taken around Merino/Digby by the daughter of Kellie Donovan, whose grandchild can be heard whimpering as the car bounces along roads that can only be described as disgraceful.
Kellie uploaded this footage to Facebook (Fix Our Rural Roads), together with photos of other local roads that have potholes so large, you need to drive on the wrong side of the road to avoid them.
Merino/Digby is just west of Hamilton, but anyone who has driven around the roads in south-west Victoria – including portions of the M1 Princes Highway – will be able to relate to it.
We have all gripped our steering wheels that bit tighter as we bump and slump our way across the dips and potholes that have turned our roads into dangerous obstacle courses.
Why do we have to put up with it?
Below is a photograph taken last Thursday of the archaic Warrnambool-to-Melbourne train service chugging its way toward Melbourne: it is slow, the carriages are old and often unsuitable for people with disabilities, and it is always crowded. Even the food is terrible.
Why do we have to put up with it?
The Warrnambool-to-Melbourne train service is antiquated in comparison to others around the state.
[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #A02F2F;”] T[/dropcap]he third-world condition of our local roads and major train service are just two of the symptoms of living in a seat that has been taken for granted for decades.
Like Russian dolls, we live in a safe Liberal seat (the state seat of South-West Coast) within a safe Liberal seat (the federal seat of Wannon) and, in my view, this has bred contempt for the locals.
This contempt has been shown not only in the years of neglect of basic infrastructure such as safe roads, but in how our little patch is now treated like some personal family company by the Liberal Party.
We saw this played out in full colour this past week.
The retirement of long-serving South West Coast MP Dr Denis Napthine has seen the nomination of his 24-year-old son, Tom, as heir apparent and I can’t help but think of Rupert Murdoch passing the baton down to his golden sons.
Tom, despite being a novice, will no doubt have the full backing of Wannon MP Dan Tehan who owes Denis one for helping him get elected to a plum Liberal seat that he had never even lived in.
Dan, as he reflected last week, was mentored by Denis who, in turn, was mentored by Dan’s mother, the late Marie Tehan, another Liberal MP. See how it works? You look after my family, I look after yours.
With the Labor Party having pulled the pin on running a candidate for the south-west by-election, Roy Reekie will run as an independent. Image: Facebook.
[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #A02F2F;”] T[/dropcap]his neat succession plan, however, hit a hurdle when another arm of the Liberal Party decided to push its own candidate – Donna Petrovich.
If this name doesn’t ring a bell, don’t worry, it shouldn’t: Donna is a former MP who represented the area around Macedon, north of Melbourne.
That’s right: another Dan Tehan moment, where a candidate is dropped out of the sky into the south-west in the hope of winning a comfy, safe seat.
Three other Liberal hopefuls have also emerged in Warrnambool Mayor Michael Neoh, farming advocate Roma Britnell andGlenelg Shire councillor Anita Rank. (The Liberal Party will preselect its candidate on Sept 20 – update Michael Neoh has since withdrawn and will now run for The Nationals).
And where is the Labor Party in all this?
Despite it being a rare opportunity where the sitting MP is retiring, they have flip flopped all over the place as to whether they will even bother to run a candidate.
As it stands, the ALP’s Roy Reekie is gearing up to contest the seat for a fifth time, but this time as an independent. (Michael McCluskey is also running again as an independent, while The Greens are yet to select a candidate (update: The Greens will again be represented by Thomas Campbell.)
And somewhere in the middle of all this internal squabbling and manoeuvring and climbing over each other for pre-selection is…you.
The heir apparent: Tom Napthine, son of Dr Denis Napthine, will run for Liberal preselection for the seat of South-West Coast. Image: Denis Napthine/Twitter.
[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #A02F2F;”] S[/dropcap]o what do you want?
I know what I want.
I want our seat to become marginal, where no party, or person, can ever assume that they will be in power for year, after year, after year.
Instead, every election should be a hard-fought battle, rather than a fait accompli.
I also want a candidate who has principles and sticks to them.
Just last week we saw Michael Neoh say that he supported marriage equality, only to run the other way when he was asked by the Byron Shire Mayor to formalise that support. (Mr Neoh has not only since changed his stance on supporting gay marriage publicly, but changed political parties!)
And I want a leader who loves our part of the world and will fight for it, without becoming blinded by their own ambition to be a Minister, or Premier, or the well-paid chair of some parliamentary committee.
Is it too much to hope for?
I hope not, because without these things, I fear that we will continue to be the poor cousins of the state, rumbling along on our slow trains and broken roads to nowhere.
[box]The State Government is undertaking a state-wide review of its public transport systems, including for the south-west. You can also have your say online via this link here. [/box]
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